Projects/Usability/HIG/TextEdit

Purpose

The text edit control displays multiple lines of text to the user and allow the user to enter unconstrained text. In contrast to a line edit that is used to enter only one line of text the text edit is the right control for more than one line.

Examples

Guidelines

Is this the right control

Use text edits for input of unconstrained text with more than one line.

Do not use a text edit for input of a few words. Use a line edit to enter single lines of text.

Behavior

Do not make users scroll unnecessarily; size text boxes to eliminate the need for scrolling.

Do not put horizontal scroll bars on multi-line text boxes.

Appearance

When disabling the text edit, also disable any associated labels and buttons.

Label every text edit with a descriptive caption to the top left (cf. alignment).